Through growing up in different countries and cultures, I have many people who have influenced me. I was born in Canada, and studied in a small public school in South Korea up until Grade 4. Then, we moved to Bangladesh where my parents worked as doctors in the South Korean embassy. After staying in Bangladesh for five years, we moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where my parents worked in a hospital and taught at a medical university.

The person who most influenced me me is my dad, he is a very studious and a hard-working person. He always argued that all students need to succeed are a pencil and a heart willing to do and achieve things. My father shared this mantra because he had overcome a tough childhood with many problems. He always told me the story of his difficult childhood, his parents couldn’t afford to send their child to Middle school as they had too many children and very little money. My dad had nothing except for the desire to study and learn more things to be a better person.

At the age of 16, my father stopped his middle school education and started to earn money by delivering newspapers. The owner of the company told him how to deliver the newspapers. However, it wasn't always easy for my dad to understand and do the right thing. After a few months, he earned enough money to get back to the school, and studied really hard to become a doctor. Like this, my father always influenced me that I can do anything when I have the true desire to achieve and that there is no such thing as “Impossible”. My greatest asset is that I am a hard-working student. This is because I am influenced by my dad; I am a very hard-working student and I want to travel and explore the world like my dad is doing.

He influences me and always encourages me to do things better. I used to hate studying and always wanted to hang around with my friends, but after hearing his stories, I became passionate about studying and encouraged myself that nothing is impossible.

The second person who has influenced me is my friend, Yejin. From the time we both met in a small Korean church in Canada, we have been best friends. I used to be a typical greedy child who always wanted more food or toys than others or my siblings. However, Yejin always cared and loved other people even though she did not know them very well. Her friends loved her too because she was always caring and thought about things in other’s perspective, not just hers.

At the age of five, I had almost no friends as I always thought about myself and didn’t do things when I thought that it would be hard or challenging for me. One day in science class, we learned that anyone who eats Korean spicy noodles will be sick the next day because of the content of sodium. I thought it will be very fun to experiment this on myself. The next day in school, I vomited and collapsed as I was feeling dizzy.

As soon as I opened my eyes, there was Yejin, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. While I was unconscious, she cleaned my vomit. Also, she encouraged me that everything is alright. From then, I learned that being respectful, encouraging, and caring toward other people are important and tried to apply that in my life. At first people thought I was crazy, but as time went by, I made more and more friends because of the way I treated them. It's important to think about why we treat people the way we do. So, Yejin influenced me to think in other people’s perspective and that caring for other people is important.

The last person who has influenced me is my first English teacher, Miss Shamina. Miss Shamina, who has taught English and Canadian History for many years, helped me succeed in a subject that was difficult for me. Although I was born and was raised in Canada, I moved to different non-English speaking countries at the age of seven and continued to travel until grade six. I had very little knowledge of English except for what I learned in a pre-school.

Suddenly, I had to actually use the language in the sixth grade when I went to Bangladesh, and attended Canadian International School. It was really hard for me to adjust and people started to laugh and tease me for my grammar and accent. Piles of essays, and projects, which I even did not understand how to approach, were big stress for me.  One day, my history teacher was making fun of me as I said “hamburger”, which sounded like "booger" from a person's nose. I was really depressed and humiliated, I didn’t eat for several days.

However, Miss Shamina kindly volunteered to teach me English from the beginning after school and taught me ways I can study better. Each morning, she patiently practiced speaking English with me. Through Miss Shamina, I learned how to volunteer and help others in desperate need. Because of Miss Shamina’s kind influence in me, I started to volunteer in several places, such as teaching English to a local Thai school for HIV positive kids, working with Burmese refugees and teaching them social English to get hired, and volunteering to help the street dogs and wildlife in Thailand. This confidence I have developed in the use of the English language was because of her tutoring.